Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors of the global economy. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council it was worth 8 trillion Euros in 2018, outperforming the global economy for the eighth consecutive year. On the one hand tourism creates a surplus for the European Union economy, it comprises over 2 million businesses employing over 13 million people, but on the other hand it has to deal with new challenges linked with overtourism and with the climate emergency. Indeed the exponential growth of the tourism sector has generated issues like overtourism and gentrification. At the same time there is a general growing concern that tourism needs to be more environmentally sustainable through the reduction of energy consumption and fossil fuels. Demands for more sustainable tourism have also led to the development of alternative forms of tourism. ECO.TOUR fits into this context since it comes from one of the identified needs of the European Development Plan (EDP) initiated with the KA1 VET project ETHOS in 2017 and continued with ETHOS II in 2019. The plan outlined a real internationalisation strategy carried out with the collaboration of VET schools to increase the quality of VET courses related to Tourism, which nowadays has to go hand in hand with environmental sustainability.Starting from this context, the main objective is to foster the use of innovative teaching methodologies on sustainable tourism in VET schools. The specific objectives will be: updating teachers’ competences in teaching technical subjects in training courses pertaining the tourism sector; integrating in VET curricula training activities aimed at strengthening the education on environmental sustainability; enhancing the internationalisation strategies for the development of competences on sustainable tourism in teachers and learners.In order to reach these objectives, three thematic seminars (joint staff trainings) will be organized in the framework of ECO.TOUR. In particular, the activities will focus on: innovative teaching approaches applied in training courses related to the tourism sector; methodologies to teach environmental sustainability at school; internationalisation of education. ECO.TOUR will address several target groups. The target groups which will be involved directly are: VET teachers, Headmasters, mobility experts’ staff, VET students, while business actors, civil servants and policy makers and families will be involved indirectly.The main impact of the project will be fostering the debate on how to improve the quality of training and skills of educators, and it will also launch concrete actions that will provide tangible solutions for introducing topics like environmental sustainability at school. It will have a substantial impact at local level since it will increase awareness on new teaching methodologies to introduce sustainable tourism in training courses related to this sector, collecting good practices and encouraging the investment in on-the-job training of teachers.

<< Background >>Most firms in European countries are SMEs, with rates exceeding 90%, whilst such countries also present very high solo self-employment shares in the EU. At the same time, the momentum for firms in these countries has not looked particularly favourable over the last decade. Specifically, European countries like Cyprus and Greece were hit by two substantial shocks, one asymmetric (the debt crisis) and one symmetric (the recent Covid-19 pandemic). Taking as an example Cyprus, the recent banking crisis in 2013 has had multiple negative effects, including crippling the economy and severely damaging the country’s banking sector. Overall, the pre-crisis paradigm did not contribute to the emergence of innovative and financially resilient firms in countries like Greece and Cyprus, which are the main attributes of value in the post-pandemic economic system. The rise of non-performing loans, the fragmentation in the EU financial system and the marginal availability of alternative sources of financing hinder productivity growth of firms across sectors and deter innovation and digitalization, which are perennial to the integration of enterprises to the 4th industrial revolution.Against the above background, the era of financial technology (FinTech) is changing the financial services industry at a rapid pace, with consumers and “small investors” becoming increasingly more exposed to new financial products. Managing personal finances today is more complicated and time-consuming, yet more important than ever. People need to have an ever-increasing financial awareness to effectively use products offered through digital channels. The digital age demands for “digitally smart” people for their effective participation in the new economy. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the significance of digital technologies for the resilience of firms in turbulent times. In certain European countries, however, coupled with weak digital skills, the adaptation to financial technologies is quite challenging. In Cyprus, Greece and other European countries, firms across sectors underperform in the field of technology adoption and digitalization. For example, according to the most recent data, 34% of Greek firms do not utilize any digital tools (Eurostat, 2018), while only 4% of Small- and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) report revenues from e-commerce practices (EU-28: 11%). As for the Latvian business sector, according to DESI 2020 still fails to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technologies. The country ranks 23rd on the integration of technology by business. Only 8% of companies use big data, 19% have social media activities and 11% rely on cloud services. In addition, only 11% of SMEs sell online and only 5% of SME turnover is from e-commerce.Since digitalization is nowadays the most crucial factor for a country’s economic recovery and growth, measuring and enhancing digital financial literacy is a task of upmost importance. It entails going beyond its narrow metrics (i.e., digital skills, number of digital financial services available) and accounting for the way people and entrepreneurs actually use their financial knowledge and digital skills as well as the ecosystems that are supportive to it. The financial resilience of European enterprises in the Covid-19 era, the lack of coverage in terms of benefits and government subsidies for enterprises and employees, and the opportunities that might arise in the period of recovery, along with the availability of novel FinTech instruments, make the proposed agenda of utmost interest and importance for policymakers<< Objectives >>The ultimate purpose of this project is to contribute towards enhancing digital financial literacy/inclusion in certain European micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The literature still has several unknowns regarding the factors and skillsets that contribute to (i) viable entrepreneurial activity, (ii) the incentives that can motivate informal attitudes to entrepreneurship to formalize, and (iii) enterprises transforming to medium and large-scale enterprises. Thus, this project attempts to cater to this gap, by examining the setting for European SMEs, the related skills that can foster latent and active entrepreneurial activity, the skillsets that are relevant to such activity, the awareness on novel financial instruments and tools by latent and current European entrepreneurs. The following question is of paramount interest: Does digital financial literacy of the entrepreneur affect the firm’s well-being? The partners will identify digital and financial literacy needs and provide training to fill in this gap for both professional and unemployed people. They aim at developing attractive, training programme in country language, that will allow digital financial literacy enhancement. The DIFILIM project seeks to deliver a curriculum to meet the real needs of entrepreneurs in the areas of financial literacy and digital skills. Through an analysis of the needs of entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurship programmes it will identify the fundamental competencies required in the two disciplines and the gaps in existing provision. The project will then design and apply a curriculum to deliver these skills in a combination of methods including an e-learning platform. The project aims to create networks at local, regional and European level for spreading good practices of educational integration.<< Implementation >>During the two-year project, partners will carry out various research and development activities and face-to-face meetings with entrepreneurs. The main activities include: A) Pilot surveys to identify digital and financial literacy needs; B) Analysis of best practices and development of blueprints and guidelines for the best practices’ implementation; C) Transferring best practices to the local context and developing implementation guidelines adapted to the local needs. The training programme addresses MSMEs and potential entrepreneurs. The framework designed for training and learning digital financial literacy will identify those aspects highlighted through empirical studies and theoretical research in each of the partner countries. Although they are not the only possible aspects of digital financial literacy, these areas seek to define what facilitators and learners should know. In this framework, the complex notion of teaching financial and digital literacy is divided into 4 competence areas: 1) Choice and use of financial services, 2) financial and business management and planning, 3) Financial security 4) FinTech, Cybersecurity and Digital Fraud. The areas and topics do not have a particular order. Within each area and topic, learning objectives will be targeting (and aiming to foster) A) Awareness, B) knowledge and understanding C) Skills and behavior. These three dimensions are ordered in the spirit as in the OECD/INFE core competencies framework for adults.The training programme will be developed mixing online training modules, in-class modules, and work-based learning periods, and available in all partner languages. The training material will be free of use.<< Results >>By the implementation of the project, we aim to provide improved level of digital and financial skills for employability. We will expect that MSMEs and potential entrepreneurs, will be better able to:•Recognise the interaction between personal and business finance;•Know where to go for help;•Improve their understanding of the digital financial landscape; and•Through information, instruction and/or objective advice, develop the skills, knowledge and confidence to:•become more aware of financing opportunities and (digital) financial risks and opportunities;•make informed business plans and related choices;•manage their financial records, planning and risks effectively over the short and long term; and•take other effective actions to maximise the potential of their business for the benefit of their enterprise and that of the wider economy.Overall, the project objectives include:•A situation-based assessment report, tackling the skills gaps •The development of a training model addressing the main topic of digital financial literacy. The model aims to enhance entrepreneurs' capacity to undertake responsible financial choices and to understand digital techniques readily available to boost their enterprise’ well-being.•The development of a free-to-use Toolkit for enterprises •A series of materials and documents supporting transferability and sustainability of the best practices•Dissemination events to raise awareness and reaching stakeholders across Europe

<< Background >>A receptionist in today’s thriving business world is so much more than someone who answers the telephone. She or he is the first person that customers meet, so the impression she or he makes represents the entire business. Faced with new kinds of systemic risks, like COVID-19, receptionist must also perform more demanding tasks for risk mitigation and they are the first persons that face the customers. They must always become ready for what comes next and safeguard the company’s guests and staff, in particular having the knowledge, skills and competences to respond to their safety, comfort and accessibility requirements. Fitch estimates that COVID-19 will cause a major drop in European hotels' occupancy and these will not recover until 2023. It is sure that when reopening comes, the demand for receptionists will raise. Taking into consideration the fact that many of the existing workforce was forced to select different career paths and the new challenges the recent pandemic revealed, the need for competent training will be apparent. WELCOME comes to address this need by developing and offering a modern online digital platform with training content in the form of 3D simulations (role play scenarios based on a service design mapping approach). The high-fidelity 3D realistic simulations that will be created with Unity (game engine) will offer advantages such as high user engagement, interactivity and feedback. Leading from the impacts of the coronavirus situation and prevention measures, the platform will include also COVID-19 management-related scenarios. Social distancing, sharing information about the virus, techniques and tools limiting person-to-person contact, techniques to identify and deal with risky situations and much more will be part of these scenarios. The platform will offer a fast and affordable way of training front desk officers, shortening learning curves. The trainee will run the scenarios interacting with virtual visitors at a hotel reception and at the end of each scenario will be able to see (in a form of animation with the same avatars) the proper behaviour and identify possible mistakes. The scenarios will be categorized under different topics that will be selected through the organization of focus groups in each country (taking into consideration existing qualifications in each country). It is expected that the platform will significantly increase the average recall rate of trainees compared with existing methodologies. The platform will be accompanied by an authoring tool where the scenarios would be easily translated and modified to address specific needs. Authorized users will be also able to create new scenarios according to their needs. The platform will consist of self-study elements in the form of 3D simulations as described above (accessible through the web and mobile devices) but will also offer an online assessment tool through real time interaction between the assessor(s) and the trainee inside the virtual environment of the reception (using cloud networking servers). A management tool will be dealing with the organization of the online assessments that will be taking place at set dates and times. Email notifications will be automatically sent to the trainees at set time before the assessment. The interaction during each assessment will be saved in a narrative form.<< Objectives >>The objectives of the project are to: -develop an innovative online platform for the training of hotel receptionists on communication skills. -create a number of simulation scenarios that will be role-played by the trainee inside the platform - develop an online synchronous 3D assessment tool that will be used in order for the trainees to interact with assessors as if they were customers and receive a certification. -train tutors to use the platform in order to be able to translate and customize the scenarios to specific needs (different cultures, circumstances, etc).-train assessors to be able to organize and perform online assessments -disseminate the results of the project through tourism associations, professional communities, VET networks, EPALE, etc.<< Implementation >>The project will start with desk research on existing qualifications for receptionists in each country. The communication modules of these qualifications will be identified and the learning outcomes will be categorized. Additional learning outcomes as revealed due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be added to the previous ones. ENAT will assess if these learning outcomes include social inclusion and disability issues and corrective action will take place (addition of more learning outcomes or update of the existing ones). Upon the learning outcomes will be finalized, focus groups will be organized in each country to provide further input relevant to receptionists training, existing barriers in online and in class training and the envisaged functionality of the 3D training platform and assessment tools. A final list of learning outcomes will be produced along with national reports presenting the work in Result 1 (including platform requirements). The list of the learning outcomes will feed the narrative scenarios writing process. The technical partner will provide templates for the scenario writing process in order these scenarios to be easily transferred to the 3D platform. In parallel with the scenario writing, the development of the 3D training platform starts [Result 2]. The requirements as documented during the focus groups and the previous experience of the technical partner will lead to a development of an easy to use and intuitive 3D platform that will be putting trainees in the shoes of receptionists receiving guests at the hotel reception. The development of the scenario editing tools will also start and the scenarios will be transferred online. The assessment tools will also be developed along with management tools for planning the online assessments (3D sessions). After the completion of the tools in Result No 2 and the scenario uploading to the platform, the pilot trainings will start. The certification of the trainings will take place [Result No 3] using a certification scheme that would have been developed after the completion of the 3D training and assessment tools. Finally, after the evaluation, the platforms will be fine tuned to the final requirements and the development of a training and assessment guide (replication guide) will take place that will enhance WELCOME's sustainability as it will contains all the necessary information to use the tools and provide certifications. Trainers will be trained in each country to use the guide, support their trainees in their self directed development and enhance the offering through the addition of more scenarios. Multiplier Events in all countries will disseminate project results.<< Results >>The outcomes expected from WELCOME project include: A. during the project: -A list of narrative scenarios and service design maps, presenting proper behaviours covering the communication skills needs of the modern receptionists, based on a body of knowledge developed by professionals, users and stakeholders. -An online 3D platform offering game-based learning to receptionists through simulation scenarios (for receptionists). -An online platform for editing existing and creating new scenarios (for tutors). -An online platform for organizing and performing synchronous assessments along with a certification and assessment guide (for assessors) -100 certified front desk officers that will follow the project's pilot trainings -25 trainers trained in how to run WELCOME training and assessment sessions. B. on the project's completion: - To have raised awareness on the project results, offering a fast and competitive way for training hotel receptionists. - Open Educational Resources in 3-D Game-based learning for further development by the hospitality industry and VET providers. -To have ensured sustainability by (a) proving the added value of the developed platform, (b) having convinced decision makers through dissemination and communication activities and project results, and, (c) by creating an easy to use authoring tool and a trustworthy assessment tool with which assessors will be able award certifications (increasing their profitability and reducing assessment costs).

“Q-Tales” is a Collaboration Ecosystem, specifically designed to serve the needs of the European Children e-book industry, where European Creative SMEs, Experts and Parents, co-create new or transform existing Children Literature into high quality e-books & Apps using innovative ICT solutions provided by European ICT SMEs along with a Curation Framework provided by European Academic experts in the field of Pedagogy, Children Psychology and evolutionary Psychology. The specific objectives of the project are summarized below: • Objective 1: Build the Q-Tales Collaboration Platform and respective ecosystem, including Gamification Aspects, where European self-publishers, authors, illustrators, voice actors, animators and other related SMEs & professionals will find & submit industry news, communicate, offer & receive services and collaborate. • Objective 2: Develop the Q-Tales Authoring Tool, featuring an easy-to-use interface with powerful and sophisticated authoring features which will be used to create the Q-Tales e-books and apps, incorporating the Q-Tales Ontology and utilizing gamification techniques. • Objective 3: Launch the Q-Tales Store where the authored e-books and apps will be offered worldwide. • Objective 4: Define the Technical and Pedagogical Q-Tales Curation Frameworks, in order to ensure that every single item sold is, technically perfect and better connected with current academic developments in the fields of child / evolutionary psychology while offering a scent of “Europeanness”, whilst incorporating nation- and country-specific literacy cultural and linguistic elements. • Objective 5: Develop a new breed of in-app analytics services. • Objective 6: Identify & Connect with established European Children Literature Content Providers and Sources. • Objective 7: Establish Q-Tales as a Brand Name with European Publishing Industry. • Objective 8: Introduce the Q-Tales Awards as an annual creativity competition.